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Eating Out: Alsace, Basel and Baden

Here’s my take on the best places to eat in the three-cornered region that’s known as the Dreilaendereck: Alsace/France, Basel/Switzerland and Baden/Germany.

The restaurants are grouped by country: first Alsace (where I live), then Basel and Baden, both within striking distance of home. It’s a personal selection, hopefully eclectic and with something for every budget and every occasion. It’s also a work in progress, so be sure to check in regularly for new additions.

This new bistrot on the main street is light, bright and airy – think pale wood, white gloss paint, loads of mirrors reflecting sparkly lights inside wooden wine boxes suspended crazily from the ceiling. There’s a succinct menu plus fast-moving seasonal suggestions chalked up on a blackboard and a lunch menu on weekdays @ €22 for 3 courses. Good selection of wines by the glas (from Au Monde du Vin the other side of the street). The only slightly bum note is the service, which is best described as smiling and well-intentioned, but inept.

Delicious village inn in the depths of the Sundgau owned and run by the Litzler family. Classic French food (epic Châteaubriand with béarnaise, and a gratin dauphinois to die for/from) plus some more creative stuff, changing with the seasons. Small, flower-decked terrace in summer and a delicious Hostellerie annexe in a reconstituted Sundgau timbered edifice, situated just down the road on the edge of the village with views out over the fields and to the Jura Alsacien.

Le Cheval Blanc, Feldbach,Tel. 03 89 25 81 86

Owned and run by the formidable Ispa family, this village inn is always full of happy diners. Classic French cooking is now being taken up a notch by the son who is increasingly in charge in the kitchen, lots of different menus (and wonderful puddings), reliably good, copiously and cheerfully served and excellent value for money. Look in on the serenely beautiful 12th century church just across the way while you’re here. STOP PRESS: The Cheval Blanc received a Bib Gourmand in the 2014 Michelin Guide, awarded for yummy food at friendly prices…go SOON, before the secret is out!

Feels like a ferme-auberge out in the middle of the fields between the villages of Winkel and Lucelle, right on the Swiss-Alsace border. Large shaded terrace for summer and cosy wood-panelled dining room for winter. Service is friendly and efficient – even on a Sunday when it’s always packed out. The sommelier makes a point of offering lesser known wines (at least for these Alsace hinterlands) – a white blend from Planeta in Sicily or a sprightly Malbec from Catena Zapata in Argentina, both priced at under €30.

Ask for a table in the little room to the left as you come in (cosier and less noisy than the big dining room), or on the terrace in summer. Original, sensibly priced food (2-course midweek lunch menu around 12 euros – e.g panaché de poissons with pasta, right), a good selection of main-course veggie dishes – and a wide range of veg to accompany main dishes, cooked to rare perfection. The touch of Swiss frost from the owner has thawed out and the staff is cheerful and [fairly] proficient.

A L’Ange, 3 rue Principale, Leymen, Tel. 03 89 68 51 79

Checked tablecloths, lots of exposed beams, nice little garden at the back for summer and friendly service at this cosy family auberge just about opposite the Couronne d’Or (above). Food here is classic Alsatian – home-made terrines, good rib-sticking game stews in the autumn and a range of other dishes with a few modern touches.

The Fischer family are founder members of the Confrérie de la Choucroute, and both father Roger and son Jean are huntsmen, so this is the place for a proper choucroute, or a quiche à la choucroute (right) or game in season. Great position with terrific terrace commanding epic views out over the Jura Alsacien.

Madame Giuggiola is front-of-house and her husband in the kitchen of this chic little resto in Hésingue, which celebrated 40 years of faithful service in 2013 (here‘s my account of our own anniversary celebrated there). Upmarket French cuisine, attentive service, good-value lunch menu on weekdays and a bit pricier for dinner. Go soon: they will retire in 2015.

A little corner of Apulia in the depths of the Sundgau in this pizzeria-resto run by a band of Pugliese brothers. Good pizzas from wood-fired oven, toothsome home-made pasta, excellent risotto (who says the folks south of Rome can’t do risotto?) and quaffable Italian wines by the glass or bottle. If you order the lasagne (pictured right) come hungry – it’s humungous but very delish. Always packed, so be sure to book.

A L’Aigle, 55 rue de Delle, Folgensbourg, Tel. 03 89 68 61 11

Family-owned and -run inn on Folgensbourg’s main street with large dining room and terrace. Forget the carpes frites (rather mystifyingly billed as the house speciality), go instead for one of their huge, succulent entrecote, faux-filet or fillet steaks (sourced from Viande Cash in Hésingue) served with chunky frites sizzling straight from the fryer.

Two formulas at this restaurant in a gracious old maison de maître in Mulhouse’s southern, supermarket wastelands of Illzach (it’s close to Carrefour): a smart resto that serves lunch at midday (the plat du jour is a steal) and a great tapas bar called La Bistronomie for the evening (just awarded a Bib Gourmand for their stylish food at competitive prices). They’re also wine merchants – get yourself on their mailing list for info on bi-annual tastings, when producers from all over Europe come to present their wines.

Disarmingly simple place in small village west of Mulhouse (just off N83 before it crosses the Mulhouse-Belfort motorway) known for its astonishing wine list, with local dishes cranked up a notch (foie gras, Baeckeoffe with foie and snails, choucroute with pike-perch). In the bistro at the front you can get a main dish and a glass of wine for a modest outlay; the smart(er) restaurant has full a la carte menu and the renowned wine list.

They wear their 40+ years of stardom lightly at this fabled inn beside the river Ill. There was a period when the place felt a little jaded but now it’s right back on top of its game. The dining room overlooking the gardens and the river was cleverly re-designed by Patrick Jouin and the large space skilfully divided up to give a greater feeling of intimacy. The price of the lunch menu (a touch under 100 euros) represents some of the best value for money that you’ll find at this level anywhere in France. Consult the sommelier for wise counsel on the encyclopaedic wine list.

Chef Loïc Lefebvre (originally from Verdun, done the rounds of top chefs in France, won Best Restaurant in Scotland award for his work at Abstract in Inverness) does handsome, modern, intensely flavoured food based on local seasonal ingredients. It has a Michelin star and is quite fancy but they do a midweek lunch menu @ 24 euros for 2 courses or 29 for 3 courses. Great cooking, brilliantly executed and presented, at eye-rubbing prices (at least for lunch) with a warm welcome from the chef’s partner and sound advice from tall, bespectacled sommelier, wreathed in complicitous smiles.

Jean-Luc Brendel’s resolutely funky neo-bistro housed in a 14th-century timbered building offers food that’s a cut way above Riquewihr’s usual greying choucroute and tired tarte à l’oignon – it’s just about opposite Hugel on the tourist-thronged main street. Take refuge from the milling hordes for grilled meat and shellfish from the rotisserie and wood-fired oven plus selected open wines from the blackboard.

Unlikely but true: an authentic Japanese restaurant in the heart of the Alsatian vineyards, just the thing when you tire of snails, choucroute and foie gras. The chef (from Japan via Los Angeles) does topnotch sushi (including California-style), maki, dumplings and other delicious bite-sized morsels, served at small low tables in the downstairs part of Restaurant Trotthus.

Favourite haunt of local winegrowers, members of the lively Alsace wine forum oenoalsace.com and the Style family, this delightful tavern is owned and run by the formidable famille Guggenbuhl. It’s always heaving, lunch or dinner, weekdays or weekends so booking is a must. Small, cosy winstub area at the front, posh(er) dining room at the back, excellent, carefully prepared and served food throughout. The Retour du Marché lunch menu is outstanding value for money.

Sympathetic auberge in the beautiful hilltop village of Zellenberg in the heart of the Haut-Rhin vineyards – handy for a tasting chez Becker, who are just down the street (the auberge was a recommendation from the irrepressible Martine Becker). Super-value menus and wines by the glass. Combine lunch here with the Sentier Viticole des Grands Crus vineyard trail (that links the villages of Zellenberg, Beblenheim, Mittelwihr, Riquewihr and Hunawihr) for a day to remember.

I love the eclectic combination of ancient and modern in this lively village restaurant (same village as the redoubtable/unmissable Domaine Albert Mann) – Fleischschnacka (Grand’Mère dish of ground meat rolled up, snail-style – Schnacka – in pasta dough, right) or choucroute garnie on the ancient side; ballotine of fish wrapped in Chinese cabbage with harenga and shiso, low-temperature lamb from SW France with tea sauce on the modern front. Luridly coloured dining room, lovely wait staff, warmth and smiles all round.

Hervé Duhamel (left) mixes classic brasserie dishes and bright new creations at his Parisian-style Alsatian bistro at the northern end of the vineyards in Barr, with an intriguing offer of open wines from winegrowing friends and neighbours (André Ostertag, Lucas Rieffel, Patrick Meyer et al). A good address with super original food – just wish it was a bit nearer to us…

Subtitled Créateur de Tartes Flammées [sic], this fun place close to the train station takes the Alsatian Flammekueche – traditionally a yeast dough stretched thin, spread with fromage blanc, sprinkled with bacon bits and onion and given a brief blast in a wood-fired oven – in all kinds of different, unaccustomed directions. Toppings include baby spinach leaves, rocket, sun-dried toms + shaved Parmesan; scallops + broccoli; or Munster + frisée. The decor is loud, red and geometric-modern, the table mats border on inflammatory and the loos are positively incendiary. A fresh [as in frech] look at Flammekueche, and one that’s raised a few eyebrows.

Drive up here (via Kaysersberg and into the Vosges), park the car and take off for a long hike before returning for the Chaize family’s copious and delicious lunch menu. The family raises all the meat and grows many of the veggies served in the Auberge. The chalet-style dining room is a delight in winter with snow lying deep and crisp and even.

Head for Munster and Breitenbach and keep your eyes peeled for the green boards listing Fermes Auberges in the neighbourhood (there are many in this valley), including Christlesgut. Expect a warm welcome from the young (and multilingual) patronne, a cosy dining room and a terrace which boasts spectacular views out onto the valley below. Typical Ferme-auberge fare, including tourte, smoked ham and the legendary and unpronounceable Roigabrageldi potatoes, melted Munster cheese slithering over baked potatoes, Baeckeoffe and choucroute to order, with a big proportion of raw materials produced on the farm.

Chef Tanja Grandits took over here at this Basel institution high up on the Bruderholz in 2008. In 2014 she was named chef of the year by the Gault Millau guide and now has two Michelin stars. It’s a pricey option, of course, but the food is extremely original, beautifully presented and served with a playful touch. The restaurant is decorated in a grey/white/aubergine colour scheme and the space is well broken up into several rooms plus a huge terrace out back for summer. Test the water with the business lunch menu (CHF 68 or 86) and if you like the place enough (cool, elegant yet nicely informal) and the style of cuisine (haute with Asian flavours), save up and go back for dinner.

Can’t beat this veggie paradise in the heart of Basel’s kino-land, for yummy Mideast, Indian, Mexican and Mediterranean salads and warm dishes at very reasonable prices. Takeaway/takeout service in stylish tibits bags.

No bookings but a great buzz and fab fast food at this Basel branch of a Munich-based chain of Italian self-serve restaurants. Thin-crusted pizza with original toppings, great salads, house-made pastas and risottos all done to order. Interesting selection of wines by the glass (Italy, Spain, Balearics, South Africa among others) with samplings from the bar to aid your choice. Come late (1.30 for lunch, after 9 for dinner) and you’ve a better chance of bagging a table.

The place is light, bright and beautiful, with huge windows on both sides of the resto and lots of white and dove grey – not that cool, clinical, Swiss white/grey, just restful and classy. Cheerful, smiley welcome and a daily business lunch menu (CHF36 for 2 courses last time I looked). Apart from that there’s always a soup and a brace of pastas and risottos. And you can order a companionable round or two of mezze (spicy hummous, tzatziki, aubergines, guacamole & Co.) for the whole table as an appetizer (and a bottle of Prosecco to help things along). Yummy stuff like sweetbreads, scallops & Co. (above) and puddings like a seriously naughty crème brulée duo (plain and dark chocolate) topped with a fragile caramel roof at which you have to tap-tap to gain admittance. Nicely eclectic wine list (Switzerland, Baden, Spain, Italy, Argentina etc.) with quite a few offered by the glass, with complicitous (not pushy or showy-offy) wine advice.

Remember that great little shack/pop-up place near the University Hospital, painted in glorious technicolour? Boss-woman and cook Berenice Amstutz from Sonora in northern Mexico has now moved out here and is doing a good job. This is the real McCoy, none of your crispy cardboard taco shells or chilli con carne, just the kind of Mexican dishes you’d find in a neighbourhood taqueria in Mexico’s Calzada de Tlalpan. For lunch there’s a daily special and a few tacos/burritos. Evenings there’s a longer menu and Friday night is buffet night, complete with mariachi music by a guy in the regulation black and silver kit, equipped with one of those hats you see people wearing as they emerge, sunburnt and giddy, from the plane from Cancun. The tortillas (from El Sol), soft, fine and supple, are worth a detour alone – take one out of the basket, fill it up on the hand with whatever is your chosen meat- or fish-in-sauce (Bhere does a mean mole), roll it up and eat it in your fingers, sauce dripping out the bottom. There’s a good range of Mexican beers (Negra Modelo entre otras) and tequilas forever, plus killer margaritas.

Situated inside the big domed hall close to the station, this was once Basel’s wholesale veg. market, then (briefly) a doomed shopping centre, and now a sort of Singaporean food court à la baloise. In the centre are stands selling Indian, Thai, Italian, Lebanese and Persian and vegan food – they’re adding new ones all the time, so go and check it out. You stand in line for whatever has caught your eye (or nose), then take your plate and settle down at one of the tables spread out around the outer edges of the market. It’s packed at the lunch break (lots of offices nearby) so go early — 11.30 or any time after 1, though you do run the risk that your fave Thai curry, tagliatelle with truffles, biryani, korma or pilaff is ausverkauft/sold out.

Owned by a Swiss-Thai family and staffed by family members, this is a typical Quartierbeiz or local pub/friendly neighbourhood resto in the St Johanns Quartier. Forget the décor (very brown and rather dark), concentrate rather on the food which is pretty authentic Thai, though toned down a bit (as are most ethnic foods when they stray beyond their own borders) to suit Swiss tastes. It’s also very fairly priced: their lunch menu — soup and a choice of two mains (usually either a curry with meat or tofu and a veg-rich stir-fry with meat or tofu), with coffee or tea thrown in — will set you back around CHF18. Smiley service by one of the brothers (the other’s in the kitchen). There’s also a big terrace for when summer comes around again (it will, it will).

Owner Jay Kumar hails originally from Bangalore and describes his cooking as “international Indian”, fusing elements from both South India and Europe. His new hangout (they recently moved two doors down on St Johanns Vorstadt to the Ackermannshof) is resolutely modern and self-consciously trendy with pared-down décor, bright orange/coral/yellow colours, taste-packed food and a good buzz of happy punters. At lunch it’s all about simplicity and speed, with meat, fish and veggie options from CHF19-30. Evenings are more leisurely with a bit more choice. Jay believes that wines from the more aromatic spectrum work well with Indian food and offers interesting options to prove his point (a white Rioja from Spain, a red Garnatxa/Syrah blend from Priorat), including some by the glass.

Kathrin Bucher is a local lass from Lörrach who went off to learn how to cook and to see the world – among other places she’s worked in Scotland where she admits she left a little piece of her heart. She returned recently and opened up her own restaurant in a beautiful old mansion on the edge of town. Classy cooking using the best local ingredients, outstanding fish, Iberico pork, local beef, all presented with flair. The wine list has some of Baden’s best, from the Markgräflerland up to the Ortenau via the Kaiserstuhl.

Hotel, café/deli (ground floor) and restaurant (first floor), whose owner was nominated Best Restaurateur 2012 by Gault Millau Germany, on the market square in Lörrach. The café/deli is perfect for lunch – it’s always busy, so best to book if you’re more than just 1 or 2. Otherwise, just find a place at one of the large, bleached wood Stammtisch (communal) tables and observe the tempting arrays of top-end (mainly Italian) cold meats served on greaseproof paper, cheeses, salads and sandwiches that whirl past as you make up your mind, plus wines (Hanspeter Ziereisen, Hermann Dörflinger) and beers by the glass.

A simple spot much loved by Baslers and golfers from the nearby course at Bad Bellingen, with a dining room-cum-conservatory and big terrace for warm summer evenings. Hermann Basler serves what is generally acknowledged to be one of the best Wiener Schnitzels in the business (left).

Hotel (member of Small Luxury Hotels of the world), Michelin-starred restaurant and noted winery owned and run by the Keller family, in the heart of the Kaiserstuhl, Baden’s premium wine-growing region. Stellar food (classic French haute-ish cuisine), biblical wine list, smiling waitresses in ruched blouses and cinched waists. Small terrace for summer. The Rebstock, across the street, also owned by the Kellers, serves simple, typically Badisch food (asparagus, ravioli, free-range chicken…) and wines by the glass. Shaded interior courtyard for sunny days.

Throughout the year at this lively restaurant in the heart of the Kaiserstuhl, themed brunches follow Smoke and Soul (jazz-and-barbecue) lunches, wine producer evenings, beer menus, kitchen parties and cooking workshops in giddying succession. The two main menus, Einfach Merkle (‘simply Merkle’) and Einfach Regional (‘simply local’) form the backbone of the chef’s cuisine. Wine pairings – all from the Kaiserstuhl on the regional menu – are first-class, featuring top names like Salwey, Stigler and Knab. The only bum note is hard, dry, tasteless bread – a crime anywhere, but particularly in Germany, home of some of the world’s best bread.

The Spielweg has everything a Schwarzwald inn should properly have: a wood-panelled dining room with a dark green tiled stove in the corner, smiling waitresses in Tracht (dirndls) and a sommelier/maitre d’ who knows his stuff and loves to share (rather than impose) his knowledge of/enthusiasm for Baden’s vineyards. Chef Karl-Josef Fuchs is a Jeune Restaurateur d’Europe, cookbook author, cheese maker and hunter. His cuisine combines the best local, seasonal ingredients (trout from the local beck, Schwarzwald veal and Hinterwälder beef from a neighbouring farmer, wild garlic from the forest, asparagus – and wine – from Martin Wassmer) with modern flourishes (beef en carpaccio, wild garlic pasta, crème brûlée of rhubarb/strawberries). A great place to take (or be taken by) visitors.

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9 thoughts on “Eating Out: Alsace, Basel and Baden”

Hi Sue – very happy to find your blog! It looks great. My husband and I come from Melbourne in Australia and are staying in Freiburg for a few weeks. We love good food and are looking forward to trying some of your suggestions. If you have a moment, are there any that you recommend for lunch that we could get to by train or other public transport? We are happy with no frills up to high end, so long as they know what they’re doing and care about the food. Many thanks
Helen

Hi Helen – welcome to Freiburg/the Regio! Be sure to ask about the Konus Karte from your hotel or from the Tourist Office – it gives visitors free access to all public transport in Baden, so you can get around to loads of places from Freiburg. In Freiburg itself, try the Wolfshohle, where chef Sascha Weiss is reputed to be doing good things – he moved here recently from Bad Krozingen, and I haven’t been to the new place but he’s a terrific cook and very original. Don’t miss the Kaiserstuhl region (west of Freiburg), great wines, lovely restaurants – top is Schwarzer Adler in Vogtsburg, and their Rebstock also delightful and less pricey. The Restaurant Kaiserstuhl in Niederrotweil is small, cosy, simple and authentic and the Holzofele in Ihringen is fun and creative (1 Michelin bib for good food at sensible prices). In Staufen, try the Kreuz-Post, and in (or close to) Efringen-Kirchen, the Traube in Blansingen is superb (1 Michelin star, I think). Have a look in the Articles section, Germany, of my site too for more tips and travel articles on Baden – enjoy!http://suestylefoodwinetravel.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php?same=192#comments-form

Hi Sue Fabulous reviews, La Cave was amazing, The food was prepared to perfection and the wines we had were beautiful Alsace whites. We will go there again today. The waiter who served us was great, he was having a good day, but I can see that it really could depend if he likes who is serving or not.

Yesterday we tried Restaurant Studerhof, The food was awful. but the view was great:)

Thanks for the good tips I only wish we had more time to try some of the other places.

Great feedback on your feeding! Good that you struck lucky with the waiter at La Cave and sorry the food was ‘awful’ (what did you have?) but enjoyed the view – terrific in summer, on the terrace. Keep on testing (and reporting), Sue